Poetry
Name:____________________
Imagery in Poems
Remember that imagery is language that appeals to any of the senses. A poet uses imagery to bring a poem “inside” the reader, to help the reader see, hear,
smell, taste and feel what’s being described. As you read, find as many images as you can that appeal to the senses. Write the images and passages you find on
the chart below.
My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
Senses
Sight
Ex: pans falling
Hearing
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
Images in “My Papa’s Waltz”
Ex: mother’s frown
Smell
Taste
Touch
Read the poem and complete the chart to the right. Remember to look for images created by the poet.
Grape Sherbet by Rita Dove
The day? Memorial.
after the grill
Dad appears with his masterpiece swirled snow, gelled light.
We cheer. The recipe's
a secret and he fights
a smile, his cap turned up
so the bib resembles a duck.
That morning we galloped
through the grassed-over mounds
and named each stone
for a lost milk tooth. Each dollop
of sherbet, later,
is a miracle,
like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter.
Everyone agrees - it's wonderful!
It's just how we imagined lavender
would taste. The diabetic grandmother
stares from the porch,
a torch of pure refusal.
We thought no one was lying
there under our feet,
we thought it was a joke. I've been trying
to remember the taste,
but it doesn't exist.
Now I see why you bothered,
father.
Senses
Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch
Images in “Grape Sherbet”